This invention relates to an apparatus for feeding livestock and, more particularly, to an apparatus for managed feeding of tub ground feed or hay to cattle or other livestock.
Feeding cattle is commonly done by dropping or stacking hay or forage in the field or in a feed yard where cattle have access to the hay. The cattle are allowed to eat continuously. The cattle always try to get closer to the hay stack and in doing so, they scatter and damage or destroy the forage by stamping it into the ground so that much of the hay is wasted. Fixed feeding bins reduce the waste but require that the farmer or rancher frequently rake the hay to a position within reach of the livestock.
Feeding devices have been proposed that limit access to the forage by placing the round or square bales or ground forage within a feeding pen that the cattle or other livestock may reduce in size or move as they consume the hay. An example of one such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,529 to Leigh. A problem with such devices is the livestock can eat continuously and the forage may still be scattered or spilled from the pen and thus wasted as the device is moved or reduced in size.